The Shadow Lycans

This first original artwork depicts the Shadow Lycans and their leader SHADOW-LYCANKING.

The Shadow Lycans were one of the Hive's allies early on during the reign of Matriarch italian-stal and later on during the reign of sdrbuck234. Ultimately the most powerful of all the Hive's allies on Aliens vs Predator (2010), this page has been dedicated to one of the most well-known clans in the entire AvP universe under authority of original leader SHADOW-LYCANKING. The Shadow Lycans were one of the strongest clans on Playstation 3 during the peak years of online activity, after the Immortal Bloods and Alphawolves. The original leader and one of the most notable of the Shadow Lycans was SHADOW-LYCANKING (or SHADOWxLYCANKING) one of the best players in all of AvP. The Lycans have also been found on YouTube, on the channel of PS3SHADOWLYCANS. Additionally, the Bad Bloods subclan has a YouTube channel on PS3BadBloodsCLAN. The clan also has its own Wiki, run by XenoWarrior6, to keep track of Lycan events and progress.

Today, the Shadow Lycans are again active on Aliens vs Predator after having been inactive for some years. The Lycans also have a renowned legacy in Hive history, as well as stories told to current Hive members by older ones. A special round has been created im homage to the Lycans after their original fall with the Lycan round.

Contents

History

Originally, the Shadow Lycans were created at the release of Aliens vs Predator 2010, around the same time as the Hive. Their clan leader SHADOW-LYCANKING created the clan and initiated the first member into the Shadow Lycans, SHADOW-LYCAN-ACE (G_PAIN_DARK-WOLF), with the first apprentice having been SHADOW-LYCANRAZR.

Throughout its time as a clan, the Shadow Lycans' numbers have fluctuated, its participating members treated differently than as in the Hive. Once a member had been gone too long, they were considered old or retired members. As such, the Lycans have never had nearly the same quantity of members as the Hive Clan has; this is mainly due to the fact that the Shadow Lycans have only ever accepted those of above-average skill in online AvP, as was deemed by its leaders. It was this system that gave the Lycans the reputation of only having skilled players, their competitive initiation system keeping them as one of the top clans throughout their original run.

As such, the Lycans were renowned for some of their legendary players that had come and gone through their clan in their active years. Such members included alice_170, who would be one of the original Empresses of the Hive; SHADOW-LYCANWIND (SERPENTX34), who would become a known master of all species in AvP, so far as being a Lycan-level predator, Chimera-level alien, and world-known marine; XDarkharXD, one of the best-known predators on Playstation; CHAKRAMMblade, who was one of the Hive's Creators and the greatest known alien player in all of AvP; and TheRagingDemon33, a world-renown marine and one of the best in the AvP universe.

The Lycans' history with the Hive began in late 2012 with Matriarch italian-stal, whom at the start of his reign first met SHADOW-LYCANKING. The much more skilled leader of the Lycans took interest in the Matriarch and trained him a few times, ultimately beginning the ties that would be created between the two clans. The Shadow Lycans began merely as a Hive associate, but over time solidified their ties with the Hive (many of their members joining the Hive as their secondary clan) so that by the infamous Wolf War at the start of 2014, they had become defined as a Clan ally, coming to the aid of the Hive against BadassOfDOD's Wolfpack clan. Most of the time, the Shadow Lycans had played friendly clan battles with the Hive (known in Clan history as Lycan Battles). Notably, the Lycans have won all of them, some more so than others.

The Lycan Battles were relatively friendly compared to the Lycans' other fights with clans, their biggest rivals having been the Alphawolves (and later their remnants the Lost Hunterz), the C/G Pains, and the Immortal Bloods. Lesser enemies of the Lycans would include the Dark Brotherhood, the New Breeds, the Scorpions, the League of Shadows, the Wolfpack, the Elite Hunters, and the Brute Squad. Many clan wars have resulted between the Lycans and their enemies, the largest having been a war between the Shadow Lycans and Bloods that nearly resulted in the Lycans' destruction sometime in 2013 (an event to the Hive known simply as the Bloody Lycan War).

This original artwork from unknown origin was created after an infamous Shadow Lycan-Bloods war that nearly resulted in the end of the Lycan clan. The artwork was made in dedication to the Shadow Lycans' rise after this most prominent defeat.

Following the Lycans' greatest defeat, the clan started regrouping by making alliances with other clans for new members. During this, SHADOW-LYCANKING's account was reportedly hacked, having to use other gamertags SHADOWxLYCANKING and THE-SHADOW-LYCAN. It was this hacking, however, that would spell the beginning to the true end of the Shadow Lycans. Although KING eventually got his account back, the Lycans had clan leadership spread to different members at the time, primarily between SHADOW-LYCANPRED and TheVenomProject_.

Even as KING returned online, his presence was hindered by countless connection issues, forcing leadership to later oscillate between him and TheVenomProject_. Eventually, SHADOW-LYCANKING stopped playing AvP frequently enough to garner his legendary clan leadership. TheVenomProject_ did not wish to rule the clan full time, and thus leadership was given to SERPENT_COBRA. It was under COBRA that the Shadow Lycans and their original reputation and standards were lowered, bringing in new members -- most of which not being quite the same skill level to which the original Lycans were held. Following COBRA's leadership was Hitman_Valentino, who continued the decline of the Shadow Lycans until their clan was considered inactive, making Hitman the last of the original Lycan leaders.

Following the clan's first official fall, there had been some attempts to revive the clan, most of which having met failure. The most prominent of these failed attempts was by SHADOWxLYCANDARK, who managed to get a decent number of "new" Lycans before the clan's activity again reached zero. In 2017, however, the Shadow Lycans were officially resurrected with the return of SHADOW-LYCANKING, whose presence brought about much of the original rules and standards held during the Lycans' early years. An influx of third generation members were initiated, and the previous skill the Lycans were reputed for was again maintained (although the clan never again quite reached its original glory due to the decline in activity on Aliens vs Predator).

During their original active years, the Shadow Lycans' presence was highly polarizing in the online environment. Amongst the highly skilled professional clans, the Lycans had many foes that saw them as solid competition, leading to countless battles and clan wars. Among lower or non-professional clans, the Lycans also had a mixed response. To the Hive, a primarily entertainment-based clan, the Shadow Lycans were a welcome ally, all of its original members highly respected among Hive Clan lobbies. To other clans, however, the Lycans were seen as a dangerous threat, some clans going so far as to make their main clan objective to defeat the prominent Lycans (as was with the League of Shadows Clan, which at one point called itself the AntiShadow Lycans).

Subclans

Like the Hive, the Shadow Lycans had a period of time where close allied organizations were raised within the Lycan clan.

Celtic clan

The Celtic Clan was the Lycans subclan dedicated to that of its great marine players, led by the greatest marine player, TheRagingDemon33. Originally its own independent clan, the Celtics became recognized with the Shadow Lycans during RagingDemon's time in their clan. This clan was known for its ferocious tactics, strategies, and especially accuracy, reputably being able to pistol and melee kill high-level alien and predator players.

Bad Blood clan

The first of the Lycans' two subclans, the Bad Bloods acted as a specialized subdivision of the Lycans clan that were created to fight in various clan wars, acting almost as the Lycan version of the Hive's Rage. A special round of the Hive would be named after this subclan, the Badblood round.

Ranks

The Shadow Lycan hierarchy was much different than that of the Hive. With fewer members and a system based on competitive gameplay, the Lycans' ranks were very simple and depicted one of four places that a member was in the clan based on their skill and ability to lead. These are the known Lycan ranks:

Joint Leader

Joint Deputy

Warrior

Apprentice

Recruit (initiate)

Before entering, initiates are considered "Recruits," the equivalent of "Egg" in the Hive (a name simply given to interested individuals who are not yet clan members). Once in the clan, members were first of Apprentice rank, where they would be vigourously trained to try and reach a tier of skill comparable to the rest of the clan. After being in the Lycans for some time and proving to the clan leader the right to be seen as a high-level Lycan, a member would be made a Warrior, an experienced Lycan. This system would be dropped in the Lycans' later years, leaving only normal members and clan leaders.

Joint leaders were the Shadow Lycan clan leaders, those hsving been SHADOW-LYCANKING, SHADOW-LYCANPRED, TheVenomProject_, SERPENT_COBRA, Hitman_Valentino, SHADOWxLYCANDARK, and SHADOW-LYCANEDGE. Below joint leaders are joint deputies, lower clan subleaders. These deputies have includes SHADOW-LYCANPAIN, SHADOW-LYCANTRAK, and SHADOW-LYCANHELL. Once a week, the Shadow Lycans had power-ranking events, which allowed lower members to challenge higher members for their positions (see below).

Original artwork depicting the once-top marine of the Shadow Lycans and the leader of the powerful Celtic ally clan, TheRagingDemon33.

Shadow Lycan Events

Events for the Shadow Lycans were relativelt focused around their competitive game style, instilling a skill-based mindset on its members. These are the Lycans' activities:

Initiation

To become initiated into the Shadow Lycans, one must do a duel against a Joint leader, using only melee attacks as a predator. They then decided at the end if they thought the recruit deserved to get in. Also, leaders have in the past automatically initiated members deemed skilled ahead of time. Once in Hive history, SHADOW-LYCANKING offered for members of the Hive he saw were best to join his clan, including the Matriarch italian-stal. Many of them refused, as it would have meant they had to leave the Hive.

Training

The Shadow Lycans were trained by Joint leaders and deputies as Apprentices, up until such a point that a Joint leader decided an Apprentice deserved to graduate into a Warrior. These were more powerful, experienced members of the clan that had completed their training. The Shadow Lycans trained a lot, which made them one of the best AvP players with both ranged and melee attacks.

This picture depicts the two joint leaders defeating 2 other powerful AvP players from the Dark Blade Evolution clan.

Sparring

Sometimes, members just fought each other in deathmatches or team deathmatches for the simple fact of many of them were doing additional training at the same time. This event conveys that the Lycans enjoyed training in their free time, even after they had become Warriors in the clan. This also helped fortify bonds of loyalty between the Lycans, as well as help their ability to fight as a team.

Power-Ranking

This exclusive activity only happened in the Lycan clan once a week or less. During this time, lower-ranked Lycan members (Apprentices and Warriors) would challenge higher members (Joint leaders and deputies) for their positions. To do this, the challenger (lower) and the defender (higher) would face off in a duel. If the challenger won, that Lycan member had proven themselves worthy of being a Joint deputy or leader (depending on who they challenged). This meant the losing defender had lost their old position. Meanwhile, if the defender won the duel, the challenger remained their lower rank and the defender had kept their high rank. Not only that, but long-winning defenders would then get their own original artwork made by other Shadow Lycans. This activity allowed variety and opportunity each Shadow Lycan to prove themselves worthy of clan leadership.

Clan Wars/Battles

The Shadow Lycans were most known for their common fights against other clans in battles and wars, some friendly and others not. The Lycans mostly played friendly games and matches with the Hive, not the serious, competitive skirmishes the Lycans would be well-known for. They have fought the Elites, Elite Hunters, Last Kings, Scorpions, Alphawolves, Immortal Bloods, C Pains, Dark Blade Evolution, Dark Brotherhood, Brute Squad, Lost Hunters, and so many others. They have won most of these battles against most clans, only the Alphawolves and Bloods more frequently winning against them. Clan battles were typically done in a 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3, or 4 vs 4 setup, although some duels between members between each clan have also occurred.

Members

The Lycans may not have had as many members as the Hive, but they traditionally had powerful members, some of the best in AvP. Over time, this has lessened as the clan has accepted a wider range of members, primarily starting under SERPENT_COBRA. The original Shadow Lycans typically had "SHADOW-LYCAN" as their defining prefix, while later members would have "SHADOWxLYCAN" as their prefix. The resurrected generation of Shadow Lycans in 2017 would furthermore use only a simple "S-L" as their clan tag, shorting their title to allow a larger array of unique names. This is a list of all the known previous and current Shadow Lycan members and their alternate gamertags (if known):

This personal artwork conveys the power of the Shadow Lycan clan leader, SHADOW-LYCANKING.

SHADOW-LYCANKING (THE-SHADOW-LYCAN, SHADOWxLYCANKING, SLK-x-ShadowZ)

SHADOW-LYCAN-ACE (G_PAIN_DARK-WOLF)

SHADOW-LYCANRAZR

SHADOW-LYCANZEUS (TheSaintLegacy)

SHADOW-LYCANPRED (Xsilenkilla28X)

SHADOW-LYCANHELL

SHADOW-LYCANGOD

SHADOW-LYCANHEX (xPSYCHOxSISx)

SHADOW-LYCANQUEN

SHADOW-LYCANSNOW

SHADOW-LYCANBANE (XDarkharXD)

SHADOW-LYCANWIND (RECON-ELITELORD, SERPENTX34, SHADOW-LYCANEYES)

SHADOW-LYCAN-HEL (melinaathetough)

SHADOW-LYCAN-X (ISUKKHOMEZ)

SHADOW-LYCAN-KIM (Kimofweeping, LitByMoonLight)

SHADOW-LYCANBLUD (SHADOW-LYCANRAIN, Cordell001)

SHADOW-LYCANPAIN (SHADOW-LYCANFEAR, goldgun48)

SHADOW-LYCANTRAK (SHADOW-LYCANxHEL)

SHADOW-LYCANCROW (mad_hatter_968)

SHADOW-LYCANEDGE (stretchit)

SHADOW-LYCANHUNT (alienking54)

SHADOW-LYCANWOLF (alienpredator36)

SHADOW-LYCANNUM6 (Chelsey_Just_Won)

SHADOW-LYCAN-TC (TotalCarnage86)

SHADOW-LYCAN-JK

SHADOW-LYCANKILL (prealien9)

SHADOW-LYCAN-P4

SHADOW-LYCAN-12-

SHADOW-LYCANDOGG

SHADOW-LYCANDEAD

SHADOW-LYCANHAZE

SHADOW-LYCANxl3x

SHADOW-LYCANFLOW

SHADOW-LYCANHOPE

SHADOW-LYCANBOGY

SHADOW-LYCANXENA

SHADOW-LYCANYAH (YAHS-MALAKIM)

SHADOW-LYCANCADE

SHADOWxLYCANDARK (xX_darkness66_Xx)

SHADOWxLYCANSHOT

SHADOWxLYCANFURY (S-L_REMIX, XenoWarrior6)

SHADOWxLYCANRYUU (dragonsrule4444)

SHADOWxLYCANJINX (bosu2001)

S-L_BESTIAL_

S-L_ASSASSINPRED

S-L_ComE_aT_Me_bRo

S-L_PHOENIX_ (yuikkjhyytrfg)

S-L_HYBRID__ (Hitman_Valentino, S-L_W1TCH3R-)

S-L__LUCIFER__x

S-L_Vortex (ALPHA_OF_WOLVES_)

S-L_SSSANGEL--SX

pegasys4

CHAKRAMMblade

alice_170

TheRagingDemon33

Gallery

These are extra photos the Shadow Lycans have generously donated to the editor so that this page is more authentic:

This is another original artwork showing the Shadow Lycans.

This artwork shows the 3 main leaders of the Lycans: KING (once FEAR), RAIN (BLUD), and PAIN (now FEAR).

This new artwork portrays the Shadow Lycan's top alien fighter, SHADOW-LYCANHELL, who oversees alien initiations into the Lycans.

This Lycan-made artwork depicts one of the Lycan's leaders, SHADOW-LYCANPRED.

This artwork made by Shadow Lycan members conveys one of the previous top leaders, SHADOW-LYCANRAIN (BLUD).

This picture shows goldgun48 (SHADOW-LYCANPAIN) defeating one of the top predators in all of AvP, BestHunterSniper.